Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Our Exciting News!

If you follow our blog, you know that our family has struggled for quite a while to manage life with two adults, two toddlers, a dog, and a cat in a 3 story townhouse in the city. I remember one of the first things Chad said when I was just 6 weeks pregnant and the doctor told us we were expecting twins was, "We need a bigger house!". It reminded me a lot of that part in the movie Jaws when the men are battling the giant shark in this tiny, rickety old boat and the guy looks around and says, "We're gonna need a bigger boat!".

With the real estate market being what it is, we have had to make do in our home as long as possible. Now that the babies are older, larger/heavier, and extremely mobile, the logistics of managing a home with so many stairs is becoming very difficult not only from a convenience standpoint, but it is also a safety issue. Also, since I stay at home with the babies during the day, we've had to find creative ways to make a play space for them. This meant giving up our "dining area" and using that for toy storage. When guests come over to eat they basically have to stand over our kitchen counter with their food. Our living room is essentially a playroom. We have no outdoor space for the kids to play in. This wasn't an issue when they were newborns, but now that they can enjoy the outdoors it would be great to have a backyard. Add to all this the fact that our neighborhood is not geared toward families at all, it just isn't ideal.

We had our house on the market for sale last July through October. After we pulled it from the market, we decided to revisit our situation again this Spring and make a new plan of action. Before we knew it, here it is Spring already! After some thought, we have a new plan. We have been very fortunate to find a beautiful one story home in a gorgeous family community in the suburbs to lease. We plan to move there in a few weeks. In the meantime, we are going to lease out our home in the city until the housing market recovers. While selling a home in our area is very difficult right now, the leasing market is very hot! In fact, there were 2 homes we were really interested in but they leased before we could even make an appointment to see them! We also had to compete with another offer on the home we ended up leasing (but we won, yay!). While this made it a little more difficult to find a new home to lease that met all of our needs, it also means that our own home should lease pretty quickly. Our realtors feel confident that it will.

We are very excited about our new home, it means a lot for our family, particularly the kids. They will each have their own rooms now! They will also have a playroom that is just for their toys and for them to enjoy! This spring and summer they will be able to go outside and play in a big backyard. As a family we will also be able to enjoy the lakes around the community as well as the playground and swimming pool! One of the most exciting things for me personally is that we will have a formal dining room for the first time ever, so our guests will actually be able to sit and eat! Also, no more carrying 40 lbs worth of babies up and down the stairs for nap times! When we go grocery shopping we won't have to carry our groceries up a flight of stairs to the kitchen to put away!

Chad is making the biggest sacrifice in that he will now have to commute a significant ways to and from work each day, and we appreciate him so much for doing this for our family. It will be an adjustment for him and I am going to try my hardest to help ease the transition for us all. I think we both feel the benefits of being out in the 'burbs definitely outweigh the commute.

I hope to get some pictures in the next couple of weeks. Our lease starts April 1st so I should be able to get some pictures then even if we don't move in right away!